Basically, I have been crafting a hypothetical Sonic-themed 3D arena fighter since about a month or two ago. I don’t have a ton of experience with arena fighters-I’ve played Pokken and My Hero One’s Justice 2-and I haven’t even played the original fighters (and judging by the reception, I shouldn’t). Anyways, this game is less of a direct sequel and more of a spiritual successor-heavily updated to stand against the competition of other arena fighters.
Sonic: The Fighters 2 has a few things that separate it from the competition.
Chaos Meter. Looks like the Master Emerald. By filling it 1/3, all stats are slightly increased for a few short seconds. 2/3 and 3/3 get your Supers 1&2. You can also charge up any move to power it up at the cost of some Chaos Meter.
Every character has a special ability only they can do. Not talking about stats here. Sonic can run on walls and perform a wall attack. Tails can fly, Amy can do a double jump, Silver can float, Honey can roll out of her shield, so on and so forth.
After landing a combo, you get a slight speed boost to your aerial and ground movement. If you land another combo, they stack. This boost ends when you get hit again.
There is a mode for up to four players. To do it, you must use ZR and ZL to swap targets. Other changes are made here too, like how moves do less damage or Chaos Meters don’t fill up as fast. (Probably happens in other games too, just pointing it out). If you end the match with a strong hit, you get a special cutscene and more rewards upon victory.Rings will often appear throughout the stage. Grabbing them will increase your Chaos Meter. However, they are programmed not to appear right next to the player with the lead. (Sorry for the messy numbering, Notes is weird about
Here’s the moveset, using a Nintendo Switch controller: Grounded attack-your basic jab-move with a finisher.
Aerial attack-it can be a jab-move, a spike, or something else.
X and Y specials: Both have four variations, two grounded and two aerial. By holding down, you change the move to something else.
Shield-what it sounds like. Just have it function like any other half-witted fighting game.
Grab-beats shield.
Super 1, Super 2-heightened versions of each other, can be used to finish off your opponent with a strong, cinematic attack, or just lay on the damage when you’re in a rough spot.
Taunt-increases meter and plays mind games with your opponent.
Special Ability: given to every character as a unique thing, and doesn’t always require a button press (for example, Sonic can wall run, while Tails can fly.
Characters and stages:
Starters- Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Shadow, Silver, Eggman, Infinite, Honey
Unlockables: Chaos, Blaze, Omega, Rouge, Rookie
Possible DLC: Werehog, Super Sonic, Cream and Cheese, Big, Gamma, Mephelis, The Chaotix, Classic Sonic, Tikal, Bean, Tangle, Whisper
Unlocking Chaos: Activate Sonic’s Super 2 at the last second of a match.
Unlocking Omega: Beat story mode with Shadow and Rouge.
Unlocking Rouge: Win a perfect (no damage) match with Knuckles.
Unlocking Rookie: Beat story mode on hard with any character.
Unlocking Blaze: Beat every character’s story mode at least once.
Green Hill
Chemical Plant
City Escape
Death Egg
Angel Island
Sunset Heights
Egg Carrier
Crisis City
Planet Wisp
Studiopolis
Mirage Saloon
Tropical Resort (Bonus for completing the Last story).
I have a story written, but it’s not high-effort at all-I mean, it seems like the story of the original Fighters game was thought up on the spot. Essentially, Eggman Nega captures Blaze and used her Sol Emeralds to transport to Sonic’s dimension. There, he hosts an invitational fighting tournament-with the prize being the Sol Emeralds and the freeing of Blaze. Sonic and the rest of the resistance enter to help their friend, while Eggman and a few of his adversaries enter in order to steal the Sol Emeralds.
It’s not going to set the world on fire, but I think it’s a decent story for a fighting game. And lastly, here’s some character concepts-Sonic and Tails. I’ve also done Shadow, Knuckles, and Classic Sonic, and I might post those later on.
Sonic
Costume 1: Default (Unleashed-age style, very dark blue with great shading and a fearsome battle stance).
Costume 2: Sonic Boom redesign
Costume 3: Sonic with Adventure 2 gear and Soap shoes.
Costume 4: Riders Sonic
As always, DLC costumes will be available!
Sonic’s home stage is Green Hill.
Grounded neutral: shouldn’t be that different from his Smash Bros. jab.
Neutral aerial: Sonic spins around in a kicking motion like in Sonic Advance. Useful for setting up into ground moves.
X Special: Sonic’s famous spindash. It can trap the opponent in a hitbox when charging up. To charge, the player must mash the X button until they feel the power is sufficient enough. It is a one-hit move after that, but due to the insane momentum Sonic gets, he can follow up with an aerial if done correctly.
X Special when held back: Sonic Wind. He throws some blue wind at the opponent. Not as strong as in SA2, obviously, but it is a half-decent projectile, and his only projectile.
Y special: Homing Attack. This is Sonic’s main combo starter or combo extender. It’s biggest weakness is it’s low range, but Sonic is a rushdown character, so he doesn’t mind. And yes, spindash can combo into homing attack.
Y special back: Boost. Sonic boosts forward. It’s super fast and can’t be blocked due to its strength, but you can grab it or dodge out of the way. It doesn’t stop until it hits the opponent or the wall. Upon hitting the opponent, Sonic bounces up with them, able to follow up easily. If he hits the wall, though, he’ll just bonk his head and be vulnerable for some time, allowing his opponent an easy opening.
Aerial X: Stomp. Functions identical to Modern Sonic games. Decent at pushing your opponent off of you, as it has high knock back and is fast. It can also be used to force your opponent into a wall, setting up more combos.
Aerial X back: Axe Kick. High likelihood of opponent bouncing back up for a follow up attack.
Aerial Y: Aerial Homing Attack.
Aerial Y backward: Aerial Sonic Wind.
Special ability: Sonic can run on the walls of the arena, visible or not.
Super 1: Sonic throws his opponent up into the air and juggles them with his attacks, before slamming them into a wall.
Super 2: After a short scene involving the Chaos Emeralds, Super Sonic scoops up his opponent and shoots up into space before pinning them to an outside wall of the Death Egg, where he proceeds to punch them a hundred times a minute. While his opponent is still down, Sonic grabs the still-in-half gosh darn moon and launches it at the Death Egg, exploding the entire spacecraft. “Too easy!” Sonic says when it’s over. (Tbh I thought this super 2 up on the spot, I’d like to use something that better references the series).
Opening animation: Sonic comes out of a Warp Ring (with a random zone displayed) which immediately disappears. He dashes back and forth before delivering a wagging index finger to the screen, revealing his name and title, plus player stats.
Winning animation: Sonic breakdances, spindashes through a line of motobugs and into a Green Hill loop, before striking a final midair pose of a victory fist in the air.
Taunt: Sonic runs in place and says, “You’re too slow!” in a mocking tone, just like in SSBB.
By beating Sonic’s story, the player unlocks Dreamcast Sonic, who’s basically the SA2 model with more polygons and better shading. You also earn some rings, a title, and access to Turbo Mode Sonic (basically the game giving you Turbo Mode, but having it equipped to a character is not eligible for online, and a big fat icon appears next to the character so that it isn’t used for cheating.) (All other characters get this, too). You also receive more customizable parts for your avatar character (also applicable to all characters).
Stats:
Sonic is the fastest character in the game. What he lacks in power, he makes up for in his combo ability and faster charge than average Chaos Meter. He’s a very technical character. Sonic also lacks in ranged attacks, so you’ll have to be creative to close in on your opponent. Sonic has average health.
Tails
Costume 1: Default
Costume 2: 90’s Cartoon (Brownish orange color instead of yellow).
Costume 3: Boom redesign
Costume 4: Adventure gear
Tails’ home stage is Chemical Plant.
Grounded normal: A punch, roundhouse kick, and then Tails turns around and hits the opponent with his propeller-like tails, knocking them back quite a bit.
X special: Tailspin, his ability from Sonic Adventure. He spins around while moving forward, and anyone in the radius is launched into a combo. X can be mashed to include multiple spins.
X special back: Tails runs up to his opponent and grabs them, throwing them straight up into the sky. He can then follow up with an aerial, making this a unique combo throw.
Y special: Arm Cannon, from Sonic Battle. Stuns anyone it hits. Only one can be shot at a time, though.
Y special back: Tails summons the Tornado mech suit. When in it, his power is increased, he does different attacks, and his damage that he takes is halved. However, the mech does have a certain amount of damage it can take, and when that threshold is met, it will self-destruct. The mech has one aerial normal, but no aerial specials.
Grounded normal (mech): A simple shot from the bazooka. This can be used multiple times in a row, but it does minimal damage. However, it is a pretty decent combo and zoning tool.
Aerial normal (mech): The foot of the mech kicks forward, dealing a ton of damage.
X special (mech): a homing missile shoots out of the mech. It is fairly fast and puts lots of pressure on the opponent.
X special back (mech): A dash forward. It has some startup but deals serious damage.
Y special (mech): The mech transforms into a plane for a second to knock the opponent into the air, and prepare for a follow up attack. However the endlag is pretty long.
Y special back (mech): Self-destruct. Does a ton of damage to anyone caught in the blast radius.
So what is the downside to using mech? Well, for starters, it has about a quarter of the health that Tails does-two good, well thought out combos can takeout down. And it is very easy to combo for its large size. It also has limited potential for mixups.
Back to baby Tails.
X special aerial: A speedy dash towards his opponent. Good for combos or catching up with opponents when they are caught in the wall.
X special aerial back: Tails does an aerial grab, and launches his opponent in the opposite direction.
Y special aerial: Aerial Arm Cannon.
Y special back: Summons the Tornado mech from above, causing anyone below to get severely damaged.
Aerial normal: Two kicks forward, good for combos.
Special ability: Tails can freely fly around the stage. He can use any attack out of this. It’s fairly fast, and you get full control of direction. You can only fly for about four or five seconds, though.
Super 1: Tails grabs his opponent and drags them across the walls of the arena before slamming them into the ground for a follow up attack.
Super 2: After a short cutscene involving the Chaos Emeralds, Super Tails flies up to his opponent and throws them up into the air. He blurs by and attacks them so fast we can hardly see him. He then elbows the opponent to the ground. They find themself surrounded by the Emeralds. Tails throws the fake Emerald from SA2 at them. They look at it for a second, before it blows up and causes the other Emeralds to create explosions. They launch into the air, before Tails flies up and delivers a shocking blow to their gut with his foot.
Taunt: Tails flies half a foot above the ground, upside down, and says , “Catch me if you can!”
Opening animation: Tails hops in from his Tornado, reloads his Arm Cannon which then disappears, and then spins the fake Emerald around in his finger as the stats, name, and title appear onscreen.
Winning animation: Tails runs forward, saying “I did it, Sonic! I won!” He does a cartwheel, jumps into the air, does an aerial backflip, and flashes a peace sign at the camera for the final frame.
By beating story mode with Tails, the player unlocks his Dreamcast skin, just as with Sonic and many other characters.
Stats:
Tails has one of the best aerial games of any fighter. He also has a mech that makes him very strong on the ground. While he is a very good character, competent players will see and take advantage of his shortcomings. His biggest weaknesses are his aerial mech game and his baby Tails ground game. He is pretty easy to camp outside of the mech, and his health bar is one of the shortest in the game.
Let me hear your thoughts on all this!
Sonic: The Fighters 2 has a few things that separate it from the competition.
Chaos Meter. Looks like the Master Emerald. By filling it 1/3, all stats are slightly increased for a few short seconds. 2/3 and 3/3 get your Supers 1&2. You can also charge up any move to power it up at the cost of some Chaos Meter.
Every character has a special ability only they can do. Not talking about stats here. Sonic can run on walls and perform a wall attack. Tails can fly, Amy can do a double jump, Silver can float, Honey can roll out of her shield, so on and so forth.
After landing a combo, you get a slight speed boost to your aerial and ground movement. If you land another combo, they stack. This boost ends when you get hit again.
There is a mode for up to four players. To do it, you must use ZR and ZL to swap targets. Other changes are made here too, like how moves do less damage or Chaos Meters don’t fill up as fast. (Probably happens in other games too, just pointing it out). If you end the match with a strong hit, you get a special cutscene and more rewards upon victory.Rings will often appear throughout the stage. Grabbing them will increase your Chaos Meter. However, they are programmed not to appear right next to the player with the lead. (Sorry for the messy numbering, Notes is weird about
Here’s the moveset, using a Nintendo Switch controller: Grounded attack-your basic jab-move with a finisher.
Aerial attack-it can be a jab-move, a spike, or something else.
X and Y specials: Both have four variations, two grounded and two aerial. By holding down, you change the move to something else.
Shield-what it sounds like. Just have it function like any other half-witted fighting game.
Grab-beats shield.
Super 1, Super 2-heightened versions of each other, can be used to finish off your opponent with a strong, cinematic attack, or just lay on the damage when you’re in a rough spot.
Taunt-increases meter and plays mind games with your opponent.
Special Ability: given to every character as a unique thing, and doesn’t always require a button press (for example, Sonic can wall run, while Tails can fly.
Characters and stages:
Starters- Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Shadow, Silver, Eggman, Infinite, Honey
Unlockables: Chaos, Blaze, Omega, Rouge, Rookie
Possible DLC: Werehog, Super Sonic, Cream and Cheese, Big, Gamma, Mephelis, The Chaotix, Classic Sonic, Tikal, Bean, Tangle, Whisper
Unlocking Chaos: Activate Sonic’s Super 2 at the last second of a match.
Unlocking Omega: Beat story mode with Shadow and Rouge.
Unlocking Rouge: Win a perfect (no damage) match with Knuckles.
Unlocking Rookie: Beat story mode on hard with any character.
Unlocking Blaze: Beat every character’s story mode at least once.
Green Hill
Chemical Plant
City Escape
Death Egg
Angel Island
Sunset Heights
Egg Carrier
Crisis City
Planet Wisp
Studiopolis
Mirage Saloon
Tropical Resort (Bonus for completing the Last story).
I have a story written, but it’s not high-effort at all-I mean, it seems like the story of the original Fighters game was thought up on the spot. Essentially, Eggman Nega captures Blaze and used her Sol Emeralds to transport to Sonic’s dimension. There, he hosts an invitational fighting tournament-with the prize being the Sol Emeralds and the freeing of Blaze. Sonic and the rest of the resistance enter to help their friend, while Eggman and a few of his adversaries enter in order to steal the Sol Emeralds.
It’s not going to set the world on fire, but I think it’s a decent story for a fighting game. And lastly, here’s some character concepts-Sonic and Tails. I’ve also done Shadow, Knuckles, and Classic Sonic, and I might post those later on.
Sonic
Costume 1: Default (Unleashed-age style, very dark blue with great shading and a fearsome battle stance).
Costume 2: Sonic Boom redesign
Costume 3: Sonic with Adventure 2 gear and Soap shoes.
Costume 4: Riders Sonic
As always, DLC costumes will be available!
Sonic’s home stage is Green Hill.
Grounded neutral: shouldn’t be that different from his Smash Bros. jab.
Neutral aerial: Sonic spins around in a kicking motion like in Sonic Advance. Useful for setting up into ground moves.
X Special: Sonic’s famous spindash. It can trap the opponent in a hitbox when charging up. To charge, the player must mash the X button until they feel the power is sufficient enough. It is a one-hit move after that, but due to the insane momentum Sonic gets, he can follow up with an aerial if done correctly.
X Special when held back: Sonic Wind. He throws some blue wind at the opponent. Not as strong as in SA2, obviously, but it is a half-decent projectile, and his only projectile.
Y special: Homing Attack. This is Sonic’s main combo starter or combo extender. It’s biggest weakness is it’s low range, but Sonic is a rushdown character, so he doesn’t mind. And yes, spindash can combo into homing attack.
Y special back: Boost. Sonic boosts forward. It’s super fast and can’t be blocked due to its strength, but you can grab it or dodge out of the way. It doesn’t stop until it hits the opponent or the wall. Upon hitting the opponent, Sonic bounces up with them, able to follow up easily. If he hits the wall, though, he’ll just bonk his head and be vulnerable for some time, allowing his opponent an easy opening.
Aerial X: Stomp. Functions identical to Modern Sonic games. Decent at pushing your opponent off of you, as it has high knock back and is fast. It can also be used to force your opponent into a wall, setting up more combos.
Aerial X back: Axe Kick. High likelihood of opponent bouncing back up for a follow up attack.
Aerial Y: Aerial Homing Attack.
Aerial Y backward: Aerial Sonic Wind.
Special ability: Sonic can run on the walls of the arena, visible or not.
Super 1: Sonic throws his opponent up into the air and juggles them with his attacks, before slamming them into a wall.
Super 2: After a short scene involving the Chaos Emeralds, Super Sonic scoops up his opponent and shoots up into space before pinning them to an outside wall of the Death Egg, where he proceeds to punch them a hundred times a minute. While his opponent is still down, Sonic grabs the still-in-half gosh darn moon and launches it at the Death Egg, exploding the entire spacecraft. “Too easy!” Sonic says when it’s over. (Tbh I thought this super 2 up on the spot, I’d like to use something that better references the series).
Opening animation: Sonic comes out of a Warp Ring (with a random zone displayed) which immediately disappears. He dashes back and forth before delivering a wagging index finger to the screen, revealing his name and title, plus player stats.
Winning animation: Sonic breakdances, spindashes through a line of motobugs and into a Green Hill loop, before striking a final midair pose of a victory fist in the air.
Taunt: Sonic runs in place and says, “You’re too slow!” in a mocking tone, just like in SSBB.
By beating Sonic’s story, the player unlocks Dreamcast Sonic, who’s basically the SA2 model with more polygons and better shading. You also earn some rings, a title, and access to Turbo Mode Sonic (basically the game giving you Turbo Mode, but having it equipped to a character is not eligible for online, and a big fat icon appears next to the character so that it isn’t used for cheating.) (All other characters get this, too). You also receive more customizable parts for your avatar character (also applicable to all characters).
Stats:
Sonic is the fastest character in the game. What he lacks in power, he makes up for in his combo ability and faster charge than average Chaos Meter. He’s a very technical character. Sonic also lacks in ranged attacks, so you’ll have to be creative to close in on your opponent. Sonic has average health.
Tails
Costume 1: Default
Costume 2: 90’s Cartoon (Brownish orange color instead of yellow).
Costume 3: Boom redesign
Costume 4: Adventure gear
Tails’ home stage is Chemical Plant.
Grounded normal: A punch, roundhouse kick, and then Tails turns around and hits the opponent with his propeller-like tails, knocking them back quite a bit.
X special: Tailspin, his ability from Sonic Adventure. He spins around while moving forward, and anyone in the radius is launched into a combo. X can be mashed to include multiple spins.
X special back: Tails runs up to his opponent and grabs them, throwing them straight up into the sky. He can then follow up with an aerial, making this a unique combo throw.
Y special: Arm Cannon, from Sonic Battle. Stuns anyone it hits. Only one can be shot at a time, though.
Y special back: Tails summons the Tornado mech suit. When in it, his power is increased, he does different attacks, and his damage that he takes is halved. However, the mech does have a certain amount of damage it can take, and when that threshold is met, it will self-destruct. The mech has one aerial normal, but no aerial specials.
Grounded normal (mech): A simple shot from the bazooka. This can be used multiple times in a row, but it does minimal damage. However, it is a pretty decent combo and zoning tool.
Aerial normal (mech): The foot of the mech kicks forward, dealing a ton of damage.
X special (mech): a homing missile shoots out of the mech. It is fairly fast and puts lots of pressure on the opponent.
X special back (mech): A dash forward. It has some startup but deals serious damage.
Y special (mech): The mech transforms into a plane for a second to knock the opponent into the air, and prepare for a follow up attack. However the endlag is pretty long.
Y special back (mech): Self-destruct. Does a ton of damage to anyone caught in the blast radius.
So what is the downside to using mech? Well, for starters, it has about a quarter of the health that Tails does-two good, well thought out combos can takeout down. And it is very easy to combo for its large size. It also has limited potential for mixups.
Back to baby Tails.
X special aerial: A speedy dash towards his opponent. Good for combos or catching up with opponents when they are caught in the wall.
X special aerial back: Tails does an aerial grab, and launches his opponent in the opposite direction.
Y special aerial: Aerial Arm Cannon.
Y special back: Summons the Tornado mech from above, causing anyone below to get severely damaged.
Aerial normal: Two kicks forward, good for combos.
Special ability: Tails can freely fly around the stage. He can use any attack out of this. It’s fairly fast, and you get full control of direction. You can only fly for about four or five seconds, though.
Super 1: Tails grabs his opponent and drags them across the walls of the arena before slamming them into the ground for a follow up attack.
Super 2: After a short cutscene involving the Chaos Emeralds, Super Tails flies up to his opponent and throws them up into the air. He blurs by and attacks them so fast we can hardly see him. He then elbows the opponent to the ground. They find themself surrounded by the Emeralds. Tails throws the fake Emerald from SA2 at them. They look at it for a second, before it blows up and causes the other Emeralds to create explosions. They launch into the air, before Tails flies up and delivers a shocking blow to their gut with his foot.
Taunt: Tails flies half a foot above the ground, upside down, and says , “Catch me if you can!”
Opening animation: Tails hops in from his Tornado, reloads his Arm Cannon which then disappears, and then spins the fake Emerald around in his finger as the stats, name, and title appear onscreen.
Winning animation: Tails runs forward, saying “I did it, Sonic! I won!” He does a cartwheel, jumps into the air, does an aerial backflip, and flashes a peace sign at the camera for the final frame.
By beating story mode with Tails, the player unlocks his Dreamcast skin, just as with Sonic and many other characters.
Stats:
Tails has one of the best aerial games of any fighter. He also has a mech that makes him very strong on the ground. While he is a very good character, competent players will see and take advantage of his shortcomings. His biggest weaknesses are his aerial mech game and his baby Tails ground game. He is pretty easy to camp outside of the mech, and his health bar is one of the shortest in the game.
Let me hear your thoughts on all this!